A Nuclear-free Protest Here

March 30, 1986|By Mike Kelly.

CHICAGO — Passage of an ordinance declaring Chicago a nuclear weapons-free zone certainly hit a raw nerve in Tribune Tower. For two days, The Tribune reported nothing of the city council action, and then ran an editorial dripping with sarcasm and malice.

The Tribune worries that ``local manufacturers could miss out on some much-needed business.`` Had the Tribune covered the story properly, it would have known that the city`s Department of Economic Development did a full analysis of the economic impact of the ordinance. The conclusion: Not only does Chicago have no nuclear weapons industry today, but given the nature of military contracting, it is highly unlikely that even a concerted effort by Chicago to attract such business would succeed. As just one example, 90 percent of the $3 billion ``Star Wars`` funding is going to just three states, and a majority of states gain less in military contracting than their citizens pay in taxes to the military budget.

The real point of this ordinance is not moral, but economic. It is a protest by a hard-hit locality against federal spening priorities. It is a protest against policies which have doubled the military budget in five years while cutting funding for housing, nutrition, education and health programs. It is an attempt by the nation`s third largest city to put the federal government on notice that we will not give sanction to fiscal policies that are slowly killing American cities in the name of a misguided notion of